DNA and Genetics

Activities and Assignments:

• Reproductive Processes Video and Types of Reproduction
• Genetics Vocab Sort
• Video: Types of Asexual Reproduction
• Reproductive Processes Concept Map
• “We are DNA” Flocabulary Rap and genes-and-heredity-fill-ins
• Bill Nye’s Greatest Discoveries in Genetics and Bill Nye Greatest Discoveries- Genetics
• What’s the Big Idea about Genetics? and The Big Idea about Genetics

For Fun and Further Understanding

• RNA virtual Lab
• Annenberg DNA Interactive
• What happens when your DNA is damaged?
• Rosalind Franklin: DNA’s unsung hero
• What is Epigenetics?
• Genetic Engineering Interactive
• Make your own origami DNA
• Double Helix Game

Vocabulary

• DNA- deoxyribonucleic acid, the chemical in cells that codes and stores genetic information. DNA is a double-stranded helix and contains the nitrogen bases: Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G), Thymine (T)
• RNA – ribonucleic acid, a chemical in cells that carries genetic information and can carry out specific actions to create proteins.  RNA is single-stranded and contains the bases: Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G), Uracil (U)
• DOUBLE HELIX- a pair of parallel spirals
• NUCLEOTIDE- the building block of DNA, composed of a sugar, phosphate and nitrogen base
• BASE PAIR- a pair of complementary bases which fit together in the DNA
• GENE- a segment of DNA on a chromosome that codes for a specific protein
• CHROMOSOME- thread-like strand of DNA that carries the genetic information
• GENOME- all of the genes/chromosomes for a particular individual
• GENETIC DIVERSITY- variation in the gene pool
• REPRODUCTION – the process of making more of something, specifically the process of creating offspring (“children”)
• BINARY FISSION- a form of asexual reproduction in which a single celled organism divides into two identical daughter cells
• CLONE- an individual that is genetically identical to its parent
• ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION- a process of forming a new organism from a single parent
• SEXUAL REPRODUCTION- the process of forming a new organism from two parents; a male and a female
• TRAIT- a genetically determined characteristic
• MUTATION- any permanent change in an organism’s genetic material
• DOMINANT- the form of a trait that appears to dominate or mask another form of the same trait
• RECESSIVE- the form of a trait that seems to disappear in a population but can reappear depending on the way alleles combine